SINGAPORE 60's: ANDY'S POP MUSIC INFLUENCE: ON THE MUSIC N MEMORY TRAIL IS MY OWN BLOG N ROLL PROJECT. NOSTALGIA IS PERSONAL HISTORY N PICTURES TELL STORIES. POP MUSIC NOT PILLS. ANDY YOUNG. (November, 2008). IT'S DONE WITH MUCH TIME AND LOVE.

"TO BE A ROCK BUT NOT TO ROLL"

Wednesday, January 16, 2013

4 Generations: Sunny Low To Tasha Low Of SKarf

The connection is simple and clear. Natasha Low or Tasha, from the current K-Pop group SKarf, is the grand daughter of Sunny Low the undisputed king of dance in Singapore from the late 1950s. Sunny learnt the art from his father Low Poh San who had a dance studio at Tiong Bahru. Following his father's footsteps (pun intended) the present Sunny
Low Dance Studio at The
Riverwalk, 20 Upper Circular Road is his own making.

The
senior Low was the first to introduce ballroom dancing in Singapore and since
the dance studio was a shop-house, the family lived and taught dancing at the same venue.
He participated in many dance competitions and later
became the Singapore Professional Ballroom Champion in 1946, and from 1950 to
1953.

Sunny himself took up dancing at 14 and his
younger sister Betty at 12.They both
started out by helping at the dance studio. Both became household names in
1960s when they acquired the title Singapore’s Rock and Roll and Cha-Cha King and Queen
in a dance competition.The
win encouraged the siblings to form The Sunny Low Dancers which had performed
regularly since on television, in theatres, cinemas and
night clubs whenever they could.

Ballroom Dancing Competition in Singapore TodayFrom the Website:

"Singapore's Father of Ballroom Dancing, Low Poh San with his wife Jenny Quek started the Pohsan Dance Studio in 1937. His children Sunny Low and Betty Low, crowned the King and Queen of Rock n Roll in 1957. Sunny Low Dancers, household name in the seventies and eighties, were featured in Radio Television Singapore and Singapore Broadcasting Corperation. His grandchildren and their wives, Alvyn and Lucy Low and Melvyn & Nancy Low were undefeated champions in Singapore and South East Asia. Today, the 4th Generation of Low family is very much in the business of Dance."

Natasha Low or 'Tasha'.

SKarf:Back to the future and Natasha, daughter of one of Sunny's son Alvyn, is now a celebrity dancer herself having been cast in the KPop hall of fame as one of only four dancers in the group called SKarf (the first two letters are obviously Singapore and Korea).

SKarf You Tube Video uploaded by alphaentkorea

﻿﻿Tasha's mother, Lucy Wang who is part of the Low family dancers, is an instructor too and according to an interview in late 2012 she misses Tasha during her training in Korea. Eighteen year young Tasha and Ferlyn Wong (20) another Singaporean were successful candidates from 3,000 hopefuls in an audition held here two years ago to select members for this KPop group. SKarf has two other band members, Koreans Jenny Lee Joo Young, 16, and Jeong Sol, 21.

﻿

Wow! Four generations of dancers, from Poh San to Sunny, then to Alvyn and now Natasha. These are the people who have formed permanent footprints on the ballroom floor, true blue Singaporeans who leave positive marks on our memory trail.

SKarf with Natasha Low or Tasha (2nd right)

This post is dedicated to the late ALVYN LOW, Natasha's father, who had passed away on the 11th of January 2013. Larry Lai, friend Eddie and I paid our respects at the wake in Singapore on Sunday 13th January as we met Sunny, Lucy, Natasha and their families).My thanks to Lai Simin, who helped with the writing of this article.You Tube video by: alphaentkorea.Images: Google, Raffles Town Club Singapore, and Sunny Low Dance Studios Websites.﻿﻿

Thank you Vincent for the information about your dad and the other members. I have written to Simon Junior a few times through a friend but he has not replied.

If you know the whereabouts of Mr Sim and Barney Morier's email address I would be grateful if you could send them to me.

Is there anyway I could contact you via the Internet. I shall not reveal your email address. I am doing all this in good faith for the younger generation to read and not for rewards, monetary gains nor personal success.

Thanks find.din3. I don't know who you are as it is usual for readers to write anonymously. Appreciate your pat on the back. I am glad the blog is helping you with your research on Singapore 60s music.

That's from the Malay Pops DJ. Sunny Low and Betty Low are from the English pop genre. But the unique touch is that we all meet and perform together during the 60s. Doesn't really matter which group, language or dialect we speak in. Music binds and knows no boundaries.

Thanks Byrt for your comment and visit. Appreciate that you remember Sunny Low. He's still at it, busy with his many groups and spreading ballroom dancing, etc. while his younger team teaches K-Pop and hip-hop.

Thank you so much Mun. The posting is already up a few days ago. I just changed the photograph and it looks fabulous. What do you think? You are a great photographer. You snapped at just the correct moment :-)

Sunny is a great dancer and dance coach, undoubtedly the most renowned in the 60s till today. I've been a fan of Sunny Low Dancers all these time. There were two of his best students (Victor Koh & Sunny Lee) who came and join the band, as leading Shindig Dancers (comprised of 3 males and 6females troupe), during the band's touring/performances in Malaysia in 1966.

Thanks very much to those who made this posting one of the most successful with nearly 3,000 readers within a year. That's a lot for a blog like this one. It is definitely due to the popularity of SKarf (today's K pop generation group).

In the 1960's when the craze among our youth was to buy local records (i.e. Singapore vinyl), they were more familiar with the covers of Western pops sung by our own artistes than the original ones. In fact, some record buyers were not even aware of the versions by our British or American counterparts.

LED ZEPPELIN: THE BOOK ABOUT THE BAND

Then there's the important Discography where L.Z. fans can browse through with eternal contentment the list of recordings, albums and awards this group would have harvested during their decades of performances. CLIK PIX TO READ STORY.

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60's CHRISTMAS SONGS

CARICATURIST AL HIRSCHFELD and his sketch of ERIC CLAPTON

Pop singers, like many celebrities, need to be immortalized. One way is to use caricatures. Al Hirschfeld , to me, is one of the greatest artists. CLIK PIX TO FIND OUT THE OTHERS.

INTERNATIONAL STARS CONNECT WITH THIS BLOG:

Rick Astley (Never Gonna Give You Up), sang in the same show with Silver Strings, Rex Goh was interviewed by John Cher and Russell Hitchcock (Air Supply) with Stephen Fry made comments on blog. Scott Page (Pnk Floyd, Toto) follows me on Twitter.. Thank you all. CLIK PIX TO READ.

SCOTT PAGE IS FOLLOWING THIS BLOG ON TWITTER

AN HONOUR INDEED. THANK YOU. CLIK PIX TO READ.

TRACY HUANG, STILL SINGING

She was Singapore's sweetheart in the 70s and drew sitting room audiences during her shows on local television singing love ballads. With her beautiful face, soft, sweet voice and sophisticated appeal, Tracy Huang (黃露儀) became a hit with Singaporeans. READ FULL VERSION. CLIK PIX

LEGGY FASHION MODELS AND THE BAND BOYS

60's band boys who play on stage to accompany the models while they catwalk usually drool when they see the beauties. Is this true? READ THEIR STORY.

I only heard Jose Mari Chan with 'Beautiful Girl' in the early 90's. This carrier single from his album 'Constant Change' sold very well and became a regional hit especially in Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia. CLIK PIX TO READ THE STORY.

JERRY FERNANDEZ: BIOGRAPHY OF A 70's SINGAPORE BAND BOY WHO PERFORMED IN EUROPE CLUBS.

It's a previous post but he's been here all the while. Here's Jerry again if you missed reading about him on this blog. "Across fourteen countries and two continents... Setting us apart from the rest of the pack..." CLICK PIX TO READ.

HAN SUYIN'S LEGACY

A MANY SPLENDORED THING. I usually post the image of a book cover (below) when I wish to discuss the pop song connected to the book. When the classic novel A Many Splendoured Thing (1952) by world renowned author *Han Suyin was made into a successful Hollywood movie in 1955 starring William Holden and Jennifer Jones, the song came together with the movie. CLIK PIX TO READ.

CINDY, CLAIR AND CARNABY

A very pleasant neighbour from across the road, wrote to me about her love for the 60's and 70's and songs she cherishes, fashion she designs and London places she visits. CHECK HER. CLIK PIX

70's BAND BOY BYRT MALLANYK WRITES FROM AUSTRALIA

"Everything you wrote and every place or movie you mentioned, and every star you talked about in your blog were part of my precious memories – so thank you VERY much. Many of the cinemas and clubs you mentioned are held fondly in my memories because I have crossed your path during my school days and also during my adult days as a musician." CLIK PIX TO READ FULL STORY

WHAT A WONDERFUL WORLD

A JAMES KWOK HAPPENING: CLICK PIX TO READ.

CYLIN AND CHRISTMAS 2015

Andy, I truly support your blog which does a great job in bringing together people of like-minded interests and also in passing down a legacy to the generations after the 60's. It's the time of year again to be reminded of the reason for the season - to say a word of thanks for the gift of life.

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